MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-08-30 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] You have a friend in China
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August 30, 2005
Beijing Police Raid Rights Group Office
By JOSEPH KAHN
BEIJING, Aug. 29 - The Chinese police raided the office of an
American-financed human rights group here on Monday shortly before the
arrival of the United Nations human rights chief, as the authorities
sought to keep a tight lid on dissent during the visit.
The police searched the offices and copied computer files at the
Empowerment and Rights Institute, a leading legal and human rights
advisory group, employees and visitors to the offices said. The group's
director, Hou Wenzhuo, said as many as 10 plainclothes and uniformed
police officers had come to her home as well, but had not arrested her.
The raid came shortly before Louise Arbour, the United Nations high
commissioner for human rights, arrived in Beijing to discuss China's
rights record with senior Communist Party officials.
Ms. Hou said she had hoped to meet with Ms. Arbour to present evidence
she has collected about human rights abuses. Her group has documented
what she described as systematic suppression of people who complain
about problems like land confiscations and police torture.
She said she feared that the police could take further action to prevent
her from meeting Ms. Arbour and to punish her and her associates for
accumulating records of rights abuses.
Dozens of intellectuals, lawyers, journalists and rights activists,
including Ms. Hou, signed an open letter to Ms. Arbour last week asking
her help "in defending the basic human rights of Chinese citizens."
Ms. Hou, 35, founded the group after studying human rights law at Oxford
and Harvard. It is financed primarily by the National Endowment for
Democracy in Washington.
The organization came under heavy pressure this month after it advised
farmers in Guangdong Province in a land dispute. Ms. Hou was briefly
detained by the police there before being told to return to Beijing.
The United Nations said a primary focus of Ms. Arbour's visit was to
press China to make changes to its legal system and to ratify the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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